PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTS NATIONAL CURRENCY REFORM ASSOCIATION. Labour is tlie appointed destiny of man. To sustain physical existence he must raise his own food, fabricate his own clothing, construct his own dwelling. Had the materials oh which industry can exert itself been with¬ held by the Creator, the condition of the human race would be most pitiable and hopeless; but INFINITE Power, directed by Infinite Wisdom, and prompted by Infinite Benevolence, has made a boundless provision for all His creatures. The three kingdoms of nature, teeming with all the elements of enjoyment, are placed at our command. The surface of the earth is endowed with endless fertility; the race of domestic animals will never be extinct; the mining districts, rich in metals and minerals, are inexhaustible. What is defi¬ cient in one hemisphere is redundant in another. The trade winds are the unerring auxiliaries of transmarine intercourse, while the magnet is the pilot of navigation. Moreover, man is gifted with inventive faculties which enable him to mould and fashion all raw materials ac¬ cording to his necessities and desires;'and the triumphs of. science are measured by the extent of our conquests over the external world. The argument deducible from the preceding statement affirms, that all tilings needful to the happiness of man have been abundantly bestowed on him by the benevo¬ lence of the Deity, and that the sole condition Qf human enjoyment is labour. Such, in its purity and simplicity, is the relation established between the Creator and 2 Principles and Objects of the His creatures, so far as tlie sustentation of physical existence is involved. But God has also endowed man with reason, to distinguish-between good and evil—with liberty of choice, to determine his conduct under the influence of motives—and with liberty of action, to exe¬ cute the determinations on which he may resolve. This constitutes him a responsible being, the subject of re¬ ward and punishment, and establishes his moral relations with Deity. If, then, man abuses his reason or his liberty, he becomes the author of his own suffering. Under these views, the science of society is made to rest on a religious basis, which recognises God as the sole Proprietor of His earth, and of all that it contains; while it declares man to be the accountable trustee, answerable for its usufruct. In this sense, it fundamentally opposes that utilitarian school of political economy which takes as its motto rt Am I my brother’s keeper?” This school has affirmed, that a country is over-populated, when mil¬ lions of acres susceptive of culture are abandoned to sterility; that industry has been guilty of the sin of over¬ production, when millions of men, women, and children, are destitute of the necessaries of life; that money is re¬ dundant, when millions of pockets are penniless. Let us listen to one of its oracles, a minister of the gospel. “ A man,” says the Rev. Mr. Malthus, “ bom in an already-occupied world, if his family have not the means to support him, or if society has no need of his labour, has no right to claim food; he is, in fact, superfluous on the earth; and at the great banquet of Nature there is no room for him. Nature commands this man to be gone, ' and she will not be slow to put this order into execution. Let every one in this world be answerable for himself and to himself. So much the worse for those who are super¬ fluous on this earth. We should have much to do, were we to give bread to those who are dying of hunger. Who knows even that there would remain enough for the rich, population always having a tendency to exceed the means of subsistence!” . Ricardo has expressed the same doctrine, though with subdued ferocity. “ By the force of privation,” says this National Currency Reform Association. 3 economist, “ tlie number of labourers diminishes, and tbe equilibrium is restored.” These disheartening doctrines are repudiated by the promoters of the National Currency Befbrm Association. Maintaining that all the materials of food, clothing, and lodging exist in profusion, they contend that if every mouth is a consumer, every hand is capable of being a producer. They insist that human desires and appetites are the permanent incentives to labour, and that, as these are insatiable, the motives to production can never be enfeebled or suspended, unless through some vicious interference of legislation, militating against the laws of nature. They hold that production and consumption, having free., liberty and full scope, would act and react reciprocally and constantly on each other, so that supply and demand would never fail. Nothing would be defi¬ cient, nothing would be hi excess: scarcities and gluts would be unknown. The Association reject the fal¬ lacies of over-production and over-population—terms which, properly analysed, imply a contradiction; for a superabundance of people relatively to food and clothing, and a superabundance of food and clothing relatively to people, are propositions mutually subversive of each other. In practice it is unfortunately true that hunger invades the dwellings of the poor, while the granaries are filled with corn; and that millions are insufficiently clothed, while the warehouses of the manufacturers are stocked with raiment to repletion. The desire to con¬ sume, however, exists in undiminished force, and, if the natural law had free play, both the granaries and the warehouses would be emptied. This, then, is not a case either of over-production or over-population, but clearly one' of obstructed distribution. But distribution can only be effected through a suitable instrument, and that instrument is money. If money be inadequate, distribu¬ tion fails, and production is arrested. The problem of poverty, in the midst of abundance, thus admits of a ready and complete solution. - The late Mr. Mill put the following case:—Suppose a limited market, in which there were 100 loaves and 100 4 Principles and Objects of the shillings. Under the. law of supply and demand each loaf would exchange for a shilling, and each shilling for a loaf. Stimulate production, so that the number of loaves are doubled, while the number of shillings remains stationary. Here it is evident that, under the law of supply and demand, one shilling will exchange for two loaves; so that the price of each loaf, though possessing as much intrinsic value as before, falls to sixpence. If production be still further stimulated, and 400 loaves are created while the shillings are not increased, then the price of each loaf must fall to threepence. The result is, that when labour has quadrupled its exertions, the re¬ ward of labour, has. been reduced 75 per cent. When such a system is maximised, production is arrested, and the materials of existence, bestowed by God, are ren¬ dered unavailable to man. The labourer is compelled to desist from labour, for he-is no, longer “ worthy of his hire;” driven by vicious legislation to unwilling idle¬ ness, he then becomes, in the language of Mr. Malthus, “superfluous on the earth; and at the great banquet of Nature there is no room for him.” But the remedy for all this cruelty, injustice, and folly, is obvious. If a shilling were the proper price of a loaf, which is assumed in this illustration of the argument, that price ought to be permanently maintained, to hold the balance even between the producer and the consumer; and this is to be effected by preserving the equation between the shillings and the loaves. As the latter are multiplied, exactly in the same proportion, let the former be in¬ creased. If it be said that the hypothesis of a market limited as described is unfair, since no such market actually exists, we submit the following illustration, as free from even the most cavilling objection. The fraction f expresses unity, and is equivalent to the reduced fraction of j. Let us multiply the numerator by five, but not multiply the denominator. Then ~~ equals ~~ equals j;. Let the numerator in both cases express loaves or any other produce, and the denominator, shillings or any other quality of money. In the first case the equation between National Currency Reform Association. 5 tlie produce and the money is uniformly preserved, but in the second it is violently disturbed. In the one case, five circulates or exchanges five; in the other, one circu¬ lates or exchanges hr five; therefore, five times as much produce must be given iu the second case for the same quantity of money as was given in the first case. The balance is restored by multiplying the denominator as well as the numerator. ' The question then arises, is it in our power to increase metallic money, the instrument of distribution, as rapidly and as extensively as it is in our power to increase com¬ modities? This has been taken for granted, even by Adam Smith, who, in this respect, appears to have committed a grave error. “ The quantity of money,” says the Author of the Wealth oe Nations, “ must in every country natu¬ rally increase as the value of the annual produce increases. The value of the consumable goods annually circulated within the society being greater, will require a greater quantity of money to circulate them. A part of the “ increased produce, therefore, will be naturally employed in purchasing, wherever it is to he had , the additional quantity of gold and silver necessary for circulating the rest.” This paragraph deserves the very serious attention of all who doubt the necessity of monetary reform, and also of those who have not taken this most important of all subjects into their earnest consideration. It is admitted, "■ that the instrument of exchange must increase in pro- ' portion as the commodities to be exchanged are multi- : plied; for if it did not, production must be arrested, - since none would create additions to material wealth, unless for personal consumption, which could not be distributed. It is then assumed, that a “ part of the increased produce” would be sent abroad to purchase gold and silver; but the fact of increased production cannot be conceded, unless we are to presume that the effect will precede the cause; and, on Adam Smith’s own admission, money must exist before the increased , produce can be created. In this respect his reasoning is 6 Principles and Objects of the in contradiction with itself; but the full extent of his error is not yet shown. We are told to procure “ an additional quantity of gold and silver wherever it is to he had”; but if it can be proved that the additional quan¬ tity is NOT to be obtained in any direction, because it does not exist , the argument against the use of metallic money becomes irresistible. This fact shall now be sub¬ stantiated. In a very elaborate article, published in the Quar¬ terly Review (No. 85), and attributed to the high authority of Mr. Jacob, the following estimate of the total annual supply of gold and silver is given:— Previous to 1810. Subsequent to 1810. Dollars. Dollars. Europe and Northern Asia, 4,000,000 5,000,000 Indian Archipelago .... 2,980,000 2,980,000 Africa. 1,000,000 1,000,000 America. 47,000,000 15,000,000 From this statement it appears, that the annual decrease in the supply, since 1810, has been 31,000,000 dollars, or in the last forty years the enormous sum of 1,240,000,000 dollars. In the same period, the population of the world has prodigiously increased, and every new discovery of science and art has led to the power of augmenting mer¬ cantile transactions. But Mr. Jacob also affirms, and copious evidence is given by him in support of the affirmation, that the annual consumption of gold and silver for plate, ornamental manufacture, and furniture, in Europe and the United States, may be taken annually at 30,000,000 dollars; and this is declared to be a very moderate estimate. From these computations it follows that, since 1810, the mines have not only been unavailable for keeping up the supply of coined money, but that fully six millions of dollars annually must have been melted, and withdrawn from circulation. Tlie preceding argument has endeavoured to establish the following positions:— National Currency Reform Association. *1 That any fear of a deficiency of commodities, needful to physical existence, is groundless, until it can be shown that the materials on which an industrious people can exercise their labour have been withheld by the Deity. That any dread of an excess of commodities is un¬ founded, until every man, woman, and child have more of the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life than they desire to consume. That any alarm of a redundant population may be dismissed, until it can be demonstrated that the whole soil is efficiently cultivated, and the. whole of its raw material completely manufactured. That money, as the representative of values , ought to expand as the values of the annual produce of a country are increased, because, unless this equation is preserved, labour must be continuously depreciated, and the purchasing power of money as continuously appreciated, until production is arrested, and the labourer is transformed into a pauper. That metallic money, owing to its slowness of in¬ crease, has never borne any just proportion to the increase of the numbers of the human race, or to that increased amount of commodities which an increasing population require; whence it is inferred, that metallic money is entirely inadequate both as a representative of value and as an instrument of distribution. In support of these views may be quoted the calm and philosophic opinion of General Harrison, contained in his Inaugural Address of December 1841. It is the more worthy of attention, as he succeeded General Jackson in the Presidency of the United States, and had maturely weighed the bullionist policy of his predecessor, and profoundly studied the fatal effects of the metallic system on the mercantile prosperity of Great Britain. “ The idea of making it [money] exclusively metallic, however well intended, appears to me fraught with more fatal consequences than any other scheme, having iio 8 Principles and Objects of the relation to the personal rights of the citizens, that has ever been devised. If any single scheme could produce the effect of arresting at once that mutation of condition by which thousands of our most indigent fellow-citizens, by their industry and enterprise, are raised to the position of wealth, this is one. If there is one measure better calcu¬ lated than another to produce that state of things so much deprecated by all true republicans, by which the rich are daily adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. Or, if there is a process by which the character of the country for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be destroyed by the great increase and necessary toleration of usury, it is an exclusive metallic currency.” Having thus fully and unreservedly assigned their rea¬ sons for objecting to the monetary system established in this country by the several Acts of Parliameft dated 1816,1819,1844, and 1845, it remains for the National Currency Reform Association to propose a plan which, in their judgment, will obviate the several evils enumerated, p reven t the recurrence of panics, secure the uninterrupted employment of industry, inspire the com- merciaTworld with perfect confidence, and permanently S ntee to all the productive classes an equitable reward eir labour, capital, and intelligence. “The subject divides itself into three branches. 1. Na¬ tional Money. 2. Commercial Money.—With these two instruments, all the exchanges in the home-trade would be effected.—3. Gold at the market-price to discharge the balances of foreign trade. Each of these divisions will be separately considered. I.' National Money.— In every country, provision must be made to defray the annual cost of governmental administration: hence the origin of taxation. Taxes were originally paid in kind, but were commuted into money in the reign of Kino Henry I.; but that monarch did not demand gold, silver, or copper; he changed the mode of payment for public convenience, but- took care not to increase the pressure. For this purpose, wooden tallies of National Currency Reform Association. 9 the Exchequer were invented, which became national money, and passed current as legal tender. This system continued in force till the establishment of the Bank of England; and, while it was in operation, the foundations of British grandeur were laid.*' It is proposed to revert back to this ancient principle, substituting paper-money for wooden-money. Parliament _ would, of course, continue to vote the supplies to the crown, and the Executive Government would he em¬ powered to issue, as legal tender, such an amount of national money as would be equivalent to the supplies voted. In this money, the crown would discharge all its obligations, and the officers of the revenue would take it back from the people in discharge of taxes, at the same nominal value at which it had been issued by the minis¬ ters of the crown. Not a single grain of gold would be required; and by thus economising its use, it would be far more available than at present for purposes presently to be noticed. The security of National Money would be guaran¬ teed by the whole property of the United Kingdom, computed at from five thousand to six thousand millions. It could never be in excess through accumrdation, because every note would be cancelled after being paid to the col¬ lectors of taxes, and fresh notes would be issued in each succeeding year to acquit the crown of new obligations, again to be redeemed and cancelled by the discharge of new taxes. Thus the balance between National Money and National Taxation would be constantly preserved. It could never depreciate, since the crown would always take it back at the same nominal value at which the crown had paid it away. It would never be withdrawn from circulation by hoarding, as it would not bear any interest; nor would it ever be exported, as it woidd not discharge a tax due to any foreign government. Intrinsically valueless, it would possess a conventional value among ourselves, derived from the authority of the Crown and Parliament, which had put it into circulation and * A full and clear account of Exchequer Tallies will be found in Mr. John Taylor’s “ Essay on Money.” 10 Principles and Objects of the declared it a legal tender. In its nature, it would be of the same quality as a postage stamp. II. Commercial Currency.—I t being tbe preroga¬ tive of tbe Crown to create and issue National Money for national purposes, it is tbe right of tbe people to create and issue Commercial Currency for commercial pur¬ poses. As national money is tbe representative of taxes, so commercial currency is tbe representative of barter; and as all are privileged to barter as they please, so all are entitled to use sucb substitutes of barter as they please. But, though Government is never justified hi interfering under the pretence of regulating the quantity of currency, which will regulate itself if left alone, yet to protect the simple against the wiles of the cunning, and give stability to credit, it is desirable that Government should receive tangible securities from those capitalists who solicit an Act of Banking Incorporation, in order that the genuineness and solidity of the instrument may be certified. It is therefore proposed that all Banks of Issue should deposit in the hands of the constituted authorities, ap¬ proved guarantees in land, consols, or other property of indisputable solidity, the legal title to ownership being attested by the law officers of the crown. The Banks would then be empowered to issue commercial currency to the extent of one-half, two-thirds, or threerfourths of the securities deposited, the exact amount being determin¬ able by Parliament. It is recommended that the Notes of the Banks be impressed with a distinctive die, similar to that used by newspapers, which would serve as a certifi¬ cate to the public that the Bank was legally established; and both the amount and nature of the securities, and the permitted extent of the issues, should be printed on the face of the Notes. Commercial currency would not be a legal tender; it would not release from the Sheriff’s war¬ rant; any one might refuse to take it at his option; the Banks of Issue would always exchange their commercial currency for national money, whenever the holders of it required to pay taxes. National Currency Reform Association. 11 III. Gold at its Market-Price. — Under this system gold would be deprived of its conventional cha¬ racter as money, and fall hack to its natural character as a commodity. It would find its market-price in national money, in common with all other commodities, under the law of supply and demand. A regular class of traders would deal in bullion, of whom it might he pur¬ chased as readity as coals and iron are now purchased of those who vend such articles. It might be weighed, and assayed, and stamped with the mark of the Goldsmith’s Company, in ounces, or such multiples of ounces as experience might prove to he most convenient. The home-trade, having a specific money and currency for its own operations, an immense mass of gold would be liberated, and be made available. for discharging the balances of foreign trade. If the foreigner, having sold us his goods at their market-price in our national money, refused to take payment hi our goods at their market- price, but insisted on having his balance discharged in gold, it is only equitable that he should purchase our gold at its market-price in national money. Such is a brief, but it is hoped a clear, unreserved, unequivocal exposition of the monetary system recom¬ mended by the National Currency Reform Asso¬ ciation. This document, limited in its compass, only aims at enunciating principles, and does not pretend to exhaust details. It may, however, be desirable to notice sonie few of the more popular objections to the system, and after these have been examined, to consider some of the more obvious advantages that would be derived from its adoption. Objections against National Money Answered. —It has been urged, that under this system the paper pound would cease to be convertible into gold. The term “ convertible” is always employed by the bullion- ists, and therefore it is here retained in stating the objec¬ tion; but as verbal inaccuracy frequently leads to idle or 'mischievous disputes, it is not unimportant to observe, that the word “ convertibility” is artfully confounded 12 Principles and Objects of the with the word “ exchangeability.” When one article is converted into another, the former ceases to exist, as barley into malt; but .when one article is exchanged into another, both continue to exist, as a modern Bank of England note into a modern sovereign. It is an error fatal to logical reasoning, to accept inconsistent terms as synonymous. This being premised, the spirit and letter of the objec¬ tion may be more clearly stated. If the bullionists mean that the national paper-pound would no longer exchange for gold at the arbitrary Mint price, fixed by act of Par¬ liament, in contravention of the plainest principles of free trade, they correctly understand the views of this Asso¬ ciation-; but Jf they affirm that the national paper-pound would cease to exchange for the commodity gold at the market-price of the metal, they most ignorantly mis¬ understand, and most flagrantly misrepresent the mone¬ tary reform recommended by this Association. But the bullionists shall be heard in the language of their accredited ehampion, Sir Eobert Peel. “ What," asks Sir Eobert, “ will be that sum of one pound, or of five pounds, to which the one-pound note and the five pound-note will respectively profess to bo equivalent ? The word ‘ pound’ is not to represent a definite quantity of gold or silver, or any metallic sub¬ stance. Will it then, be a mere abstract conception of value, corresponding with that which has been called by some writers on the currency, the ideal unit?” A complete answer to this objection will be found in the following passages, extracted from the writings of Mr. John Taylor. “ The one-pound note, and the five-pound note, will always exchange against our gold coin at such a rate of difference, as the necessity of representing our taxation by increased prices strictly warrants: it will attain, but cannot exceed, that Emit. Let an office be opened where government paper may at all times in the day be exchanged for gold, and gold for government paper, at that rate which'has been declared in the last Gazette to be the market-price of gold in paper, and the perfect National Currency Reform Association. 13 convertibility of each into the other will have been pro¬ vided for. By this method of conversion, the paper will always represent a definite quantity of gold from week to week, as stated in the Gazette (continuing the same even for longer periods when once the plan has been established), but not an invariable quantity from year to year, if taxes have been repealed or added to in the interim. In the event of their repeal, the price of gold in paper will diminish; in the event of their being added to, it will increase. The word ‘ pound,’ therefore, in government paper-money, will always represent, whenever any bar¬ gain is made, a definite quantity of gold at the time, but not an invariable quantity of gold at all times. The degree of variation will depend on the acts of the legislature with reference to taxation, of which, taxation this pound will always represent One Pound.” From this it will be seen, that the notion of an ideal unit, a mere abstract conception of value, is altogether inconsistent with the principle of Government paper, as recommended by this Association. Another objection, frequently but unreflectingly urged, is that taxes might be indefinitely augmented through the facilities afforded by the expansibility of paper-money. Were this a valid objection, it could not apply to the monetary instrument, with whatever force it might be brought to bear against the present construction of Par¬ liament. An unskilful or unprincipled engine-driver might run a railway-train down an embankment or over a bridge; tills would be proof of the incapacity or crimi¬ nality of the driver, but none at all against the useful¬ ness of railway travelling. The remedy would not be a return to stage-coaches, but the dismissal of an untrust¬ worthy servant. In like manner, a Parliament that violated its duty, should be cashiered. But this fear of excessive and indefinitely augmenting taxation is groundless. National money is designed to express taxation; and, by its use, the prices of all produce would necessarily rise as much above the barter price, as the scale of taxation demanded; the purchasing power of money would, therefore, fall proportionably to the rise 14 Principles and Objects of the of taxes; so that, if the richer classes, who sit in Parlia¬ ment, increased the taxes, they would proportionably diminish their own incomes. National money would operate as the indirect instrument of direct taxation, and, relieving labour of all fiscal burdens, throw them entirely on property. This is an effective answer to the objec¬ tion; for we need not fear that Members of Parliament would willingly and wantonly impair their own fortunes: the answer also shews, that under the system proposed we secure one of the best guarantees against extravagance and in favour of economy. Moreover, it should be re¬ membered, that the taxes raised within any year would be wholly discharged within that year; consequently, there never could be any outstanding liabilities, or any addi¬ tion to the national debt. Had this system always prevailed, we should not now be paying interest on money borrowed to fight the battle of Blenheim, for the emancipation of the negroes, or for feeding the Irish in the recent famine; in a word, had this system been in force since the reign of William and Mary, there never would, have been any national debt. Objections to Commercial Currency Answer¬ ed. —It has been urged, that there would be excessive issues of currency. The term “ excessive ” is very vague, and until it is well defined by the bullionists, which it has never yet been, it is impossible to give a definite answer to an indefinite proposition. The source of the error involved in the objection, arises from an effect being confounded with a cause. The bullionists wish to persuade the public, that currency calls mercantile trans¬ actions into existence, whereas it is mercantile transac¬ tions that call currency into existence. The fallacy is constantly repeated in the Times ; and it may be well to refute it in a manner that will come home to the proprie¬ tors of that journal. Let it be assumed that their daily sale is 30,000 copies, and that, anxious to double their circulation, they perpetrate the sin of “ overtrading,” ordering the publisher to strike off 60,000 copies. Would this excess be got into circulation, merely because they National Currency Reform Association. 15 were printed? Certainly not, as all newspaper proprietors know to tlicir cost. To get them into circulation, a double demand must arise among the purchasers of news¬ papers, or the excess would remain a dead stock in the warehouse. This case precisely applies to hankers; if they attempt to force out more notes than commerce can absorb, the excess would be returned to their tills; for who would borrow notes at an interest from which he could not derive a profit? It is plain, then, that currency does not create trade, but it is trade that requires the creation of currency. Withhold the needful currency, trade is stopped. Objections to Gold at the Market-price Answered. —It is said that the foreign exchanges would be turned against this country, which is represented as a most direful calamity; with what reason, we proceed to inquire. Had bullion never been coined into money, the doctrine of the foreign exchanges would never have been heard of; but as all countries have coins of different monied denominations, it becomes necessary to adopt a scale of comparison, by which their several values may¬ be attested and adjusted. For instance, our sovereign is intrinsically worth 25 francs 22 centimes in French money —the one is exactly the equivalent of the other—and this equivalency constitutes the par of exchange between England and France. The whole matter resolves itself into' an equation of the quality and purity of gold and silver contained in the coin of different countries, and is really an affair of mintage rather than of commerce. Now, coin only differs from bullion in being impressed with a mint mark, which makes not the slightest differ¬ ence in its value, but simply certifies its weight and purity, and thus saves the trouble of weighing and assay¬ ing in performing exchanges or payments. If, then, there were one universal coin, always containing an in¬ variable weight of gold and silver at an invariable scale of purity, a single par of exchange would apply to the uniform denomination of money. The rate of exchange is the measure of those oscillations 16 Principles and Objects of the which indicate any departure from the par of exchange. Since no nation can sell to a greater extent than it buys, it follows that the aggregate value of its returns must be exactly equal to the aggregate value of its proceeds— because all trade resolves itself into an exchange of equiva¬ lents. Any departure, therefore, from the par of exchange, can only be momentary—the tendency always being to equalisation ; and, whatever derangement may arise from passing fluctuations, exports and imports must always balance each other in a given time. A favourable ex¬ change limits exports and encourages imports; an un¬ favourable exchange stimulates exports and obstructs imports. It is this antagonism which corrects fluctua¬ tions in the real exchange, and constantly tends to establish thenar, which is the centre of the oscillations. Thus much being premised, let us inquire, Whether foreigners would cease to trade with us, or gain an undue advantage by trading with us, if gold were abolished as money, and treated as a commodity, finding its market- price in national paper under the law of supply and demand? Assuming that our indirect taxation were twenty per cent, on the aggregate of consumable articles, the national paper pound, designed to express taxation, would fell in purchasing-power from twenty shillings in silver to sixteen shillings in silver, or from five dwts. of gold to four dwts. of gold. The national paper pound, therefore, would no longer exchange for twenty-five francs of French money, but only for twenty francs. Now, foreigners never consider the coins of any nation as money, but as commodities; they deal with other nations on the pure principle of barter, and merely cal¬ culate what weight of bullion of a certain fineness they shall receive for the goods they import and sell. What our legal tender may be among ourselves, is to the foreigner a matter of utter indifference. If our paper pound will only exchange for, or purchase four dwts. of gold instead of five, the foreigner would charge us five of our paper pounds instead of four, and would thus obtain the quantity of gold to which he was fairly entitled. Gold at the market-price, therefore, could in no sense National Currency Reform Association. 17 prove injurious to our foreign trade. Facts confirm this reasoning. During the late war, our paper pound would only exchange for sixteen or seventeen francs; in addition to which, the Milan-and Berlin decrees were in force: nevertheless, we bought corn .of France, and France clothed its soldiers with the woollen fabrics of York¬ shire. In considering this branch of the subject, the candid reader is earnestly requested to bear steadily in mind, that, wherever revenue is raised by indirect taxes, TWO PRICES are necessary, unless it is proposed to commit the enormous injustice of taking all fiscal burdens from Property, and throwing them on Labour. The taxation price is to have effect at home, and only at home; the barter price is to be the rule of foreign trade. We must here quote the clear and masterly views of Mr. John Taylor:— “ The trade of England is now paralysed by our having only one kind of currency to represent both kinds of prices; whence it happens, that while, on the one hand, our pro¬ ducers cannot obtain the necessary taxation-prices for their commodities at home; so, on the other, they cannot afford to sell their commodities for so little as the natural price abroad. Having only one kind of currency where¬ with to represent both kinds of prices, they cannot sell their goods for so much at home, or so little abroad, as they ought to do; and hence proceeds the distress.” Advantages op the System.— Some of the more prominent benefits that would accrue to Society, may be briefly noticed. The home trade, having a special instrument with which to effect internal exchanges, would never be paralysed, or even disturbed, by the export of gold, but continuously proceed without any interruption. Merchants and manufacturers could count’ on a steady trade, and calculate their returns with cer¬ tainty. All the operative classes would be sure of regu¬ lar employment; the factories would never be closed, or worked at short time. The circulation of wages would flow in a perpetual stream, to which there would be no' 18 Principles and Objects of the ebb, not only to the obvious benefit of tbe recipients, but with equally obvious benefit to tbe wholesale dealer and the retailer. Except in very large transactions, ready money payments would be universal, through the expansion of .the instrument of exchange; and book debts, the terror and annoyance of the small tradesman, would rarely, if in any instance, exist. Dishonoured bills wordd be scarcely known, when every man, having real money, could at once obtain its representative in commercial currency. Concluding Remarks. This’ Association disclaims all party spirit, pledging itself to confine all its operations to the cause of monetary reform. Having this distinct object solely and singly in view, it opens its ranks to Whig and Tort, Radical and Conservative, Dissenter and Churchman; allof whom may co-operate in this movement without com¬ promising their characteristic principles. In proclaiming this unity of purpose, free from all political antipathies and predilections, the Association is prepared to submit special reasons which justify them in expecting a very large measure of popular support. Two great and influential parties are now appealing to public opinion,—the Protectionists and the Free Traders. If by Protection is understood monopoly in any form, or any scheme which directly or indirectly seeks to give any undue advantage to one class of pro¬ ducers over any other class of producers, it can receive no sympathy from this Association. If by Free Trade is understood a free trade in commodities, but not a free trade in money, the incompleteness of the measure, and the contradiction it involves, must prevent its recognition by monetary reformers; for if the legislature is permitted to put a monied denomination on gold, and thereby fix its price, it may as reasonably fix the price of any other commodity, and, therefore, of all commodities. In fact, to fix the price of gold; as the bullionists have done, is National Currency Reform, Association. 19 to protect gold, and to sanction tlie very principle against which Free Traders protest. * From 1819, when an exclusively gold standard was, for the first time, sanctioned in this country, down to the repeal of the corn laws in 1849, there were two laws on our Statute-book in direct opposition to each other— A corn law, expressly designed to raise prices, and a cur¬ rency law expressly designed to prevent them from rising —an absurdity which, for thirty years, seems to have escaped the notice of the landed proprietors. To this hour, they appear, as legislators, to he wholly ignorant of the inevitable effects of their own antagonistic laws, or they would not be seeking for protection against evils which are the necessary results of their own suicidal policy. They legislate for low prices, and then complain that corn does not remunerate the grower; they use their parliamentary power to prostrate agriculture, and then mourn over the success of their own achievements. The Free-Traders are scarcely less consistent than the Protectionists. In their anxiety to extend foreign trade by cheap production, they do not perceive that, with gold at the fixed Mint price, the home-trade must be reduced to barter-prices, and consquently crushed under the weight of taxation; and as the home is infinitely more important than the foreign trade, the mercantile losses to the whole community must vastly exceed the mercantile gains. Such a system cannot fail to exhibit the 'fearful contrast of the bloated wealth of individuals, and the squalid poverty of the State. The Free Traders have also overlooked another material element in industrial operations, which circumstance indeed has disappointed their hopes, and afforded a pretext to their enemies to ridicule the failure of their predictions. Doubtless they understood free trade as almost, if not quite synonymous with more trade, and more profits arising from increased business. Disappointed, but with unshaken faith in their principles, they reply to their * See, on this point, the correspondence between Mr. Bennoch and Mr. Cobden, published in the Dailt News and Son newspapers, of 26th January, 1848. 20 Principles and Objects of the opponents, that the experiment has not yet “had a fair trial.” In this we concur, but not in the sense in which the free traders understand or interpret their own lan¬ guage. It can never have a fair trial, so long as a restricted currency is maintained. To suppose that more com¬ modities can be circulated without increasing the instru- " ments of circulation, is to will the end and refuse the means, to hope for an effect without a cause. It would be as rational for the directors of a railway to hope to double or treble their goods’ or passengers’ traffic, with¬ out adding to the number of their trucks or carriages, or increasing the efficacy of their locomotive power. fjU . TMTAssociatios- feel?conlklent, that were the prin- ^-'■ciples qf monetary reform they recommend for adoption reduced into practice, the existing differences between the Protectionists and the Free-Traders would readily be adjusted to their mutual advantage. National paper-money would permit a rise in home prices equi¬ valent to the addition to the barter price caused by taxa¬ tion, and this additional price must be, and in equity ought to be paid by the purchasers in the country where taxes are levied. Foreigners are not expected to pay any share of our taxes, nor can they by any device be made to pay them; it would be quite as reasonable to hope that we could make them pay our tithes or poor- rates, as our army or naval estimates, or the dividends of our fund-holders. We must, therefore, deal with foreigners, whatever be the nature of the money we use among ourselves, at the barter price of commodities, into which not one particle of taxation can enter. By the use, then, of the double instrument of ex¬ change, all our productive classes would sell, at home and among ourselves, at prices which would express taxation embodied with, and superadded to, barter or natural prices: this the national paper money would permit, and certainly realise; but when our productive classes, sold to foreigners, they would sell at the barter price, from which all taxation is excluded. Thus we should sell dear , at home, in paper; cheap, abroad, in gold. By these means, both the agriculturists and the National Currency Reform Association. 21 manufacturers would be benefited; and, it is under these views that this Association has expressed its confidence that the existing differences between "Protectionists and Free Traders may be reconciled to their mutual advantage. In concluding this Address, the Association ap¬ peal^ to all classes for a generous and energetic support. They ask the aid of Christians of all denominations, be¬ cause their principles are based on the religious relations established between Man and his Creator ; of the philanthropist, because their objects are to promote a system of self-sustaining industry, by which the hungry may feed and the naked clothe themselves, removing the sense of moral degradation which always accompanies the receipt of parochial relief, and diminishing the fear¬ ful catalogue of crime which experience has shewn to originate in poverty; of the statesman, because a system which renders the people contented, makes them loyal to institutions which secure their happiness; of the mer¬ chant, manufacturer, and tradesman, because, by placing credit on an unshakeable basis, and releasing it from de¬ pendence on the presence or absence of a fugitive metal, a complete guarantee is given for the steady and unin¬ terrupted development of commercial enterprise; of the mechanic, the artizan, and the labourer, because the system proposed would infallibly secure to them constant employment at remunerating wages, and, relieving them from taxes, place them on property. The motives of this Association are pure and disin¬ terested, national and patriotic; -untainted by the spirit of party, opposed to the exclusiveness of class; nor seek¬ ing to array interest against interest, but to harmonize the discordant elements of society. Let those who take experience for their guide, look back on the legislation. of the last thirty years, and judge the tree by its fruits; every effort to alleviate the distresses of the people, or l ighten taxation, has failed; no comprehensive measures have been'devis'ed7and the aid given to one class has been purchased by the sacrifice of its neighbours. There is but one explanation of these abortive efforts: it is that legislation has overlooked the baneful influence of a 22 Principles and Objects of the Gold Standard, introduced for the first time in 1816, which has arrested production, generated pauperism, thrice brought the Bifik of England to the verge of bankruptcy, and inflicted heavier pecuniary losses than the cost of all the wars in which the country has been engaged since the foundation of the monarchy.* Francis Bennoch, President. Extract from the “Morning Chronicle” of Wednesday , December 19 th, 1849. “ National Currency Reform Association. —A prelimi¬ nary meeting of gentlemen desirous of effecting a change in the existing system of the currency, by substituting that which shall he a symbol of national wealth, for the precious metals, as the medium of exchange, was held last night at the offices. No. 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand. Mr. Bennoch, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Wyld, M.P., Mr. Sydney Smith, Mr. Wilson, and other gentlemen, were present. Mr. Bennoch took the chair; and, in an able address, reviewed the commercial events of the last seyeral years, the commercial distress, and the various attempts made to remedy it, for the purpose of showing that a contracted medium of exchange was at the bottom of all the difficulties of the trading and labouring community. Mr. Duncan after¬ wards briefly expounded the principles on which he wished to see the currency based, and concluded by moving ‘ That this meeting recommends the immediate formation of the National Currency Reform Association, to effect the abolition of the fixed price of gold in our coinage, and to establish a system of national paper-money, secured on the whole property of the empire, and declared legal tender by Act of Parliament; such money not to exceed the annual amount of taxation.. That joint-stock banks be empowered to issue notes on the deposit of approved guarantees with the Government to the extent of two-thirds of their securities, and convertible into the legal- tender money of the country on demand.’ Mr. Wyld, M.P., seconded the resolution, but without pledging himself to a plan. The resolution was unanimously affirmed, and a con¬ versation afterwards ensued as to future operations necessary to bring the association before the public.” * For a further illustration of the propositions advanced in this Tract, see “Principles of Money demonstrated, or Bullionist Fallacies Refuted," by Jonathan Duncan. Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster Row. National Currency Refo.m Association. 23 Rules of the National Currency Reform Associa^^n. At subsequent meetings, it was .animously resolved:— 1. —That Mr. Francis Bennoch be appointed President of tlie Currency Reform Association. 2. —That Mr. Jonathan Duncan be appointed Secretary. 3. —That each Subscriber of One Shilling annually be enrolled as a member, presented with a copy of the “ Manifesto,” and of “ The Principles and Objects ” of the Association. 4. —That each Subscriber of Five Shillings annually be entitled to one copy of every - tract published by the association. 5. —That each Subscriber of Twenty Shillings annually be entitled to be upon the Committee of the associa¬ tion, and to a copy of each tract issued by the association. 6. —That each Subscriber of Five Pounds and upwards, be entitled to the privileges expressed in the fifth resolution, and eligible to the office of Vice- President of the association. 7. —That the “ Manifesto,” and “ The Principles and Objects ” of the association, be freely distributed among currency reformers, and accompanied by a circular letter, calling upon all persons desiring a reformation of the currency to unite with, and assist, this association in accomplishing the object for which it has been instituted. 8. —That One-Shilling Subscribers may be enrolled, on their sending their name and address, and enclosing twelve postage-stamps; and that larger subscrip¬ tions be paid by post-office orders: also, that on receipt of subscriptions, a card of membership be returned by post, if requisite. 9. —That any parties in the provinces desirous of obtaining further information on the subject of currency, shall, on application, have a Lecturer sent to them on their guaranteeing his expenses merely.' Francis Bennocii, President. Jonathan Duncan, Secretary. Offices of the Association, 4, Beaufort Buildings, Strand. t , . -$k- THECUfi|EXCY BEFOBMEB. Sixes the foregoing BitgOLCTioxs were adopted, it has been suggested that a Gircular, hearing the above title, should be issued weekly.' That its pages should be de¬ voted to the discussion of Currency and Banking, and contain reports ofpublicjmeetings, original correspondence on these subjects, ahd^kracts from the works of eminent writers on money. ‘\A3shis Journal will be established as a means of dissemination and communication, and not as a profitable investment, it is estimated that a thousand subscribers will enable it to be published in London and all the large towns of the kingdom at the low weekly charge of oxe rEXXT, and circulated by post for TWO- pexce. Of this proposition, we beg the immediate consideration of our mends, as the manner in which the suggestion is responded to, will decide whether the Journal be commenced immediately, or postponed for further consideration. Considering the good that would emanate from such a publication, we trust that subscrip¬ tions for a thousand copies will be immediately collected. Let each well-wisher of the cause set his shoulder to the wheel, and feel as if the’issue depended on his own ex¬ ertions. The Committee desire to receive communications on this subject previously, to the 20th instant, as about that date will be held’the first general meeting of the association, which will Be duly announced by public advertisement. ■■■ -v : F. Bexxoch, President. . J. Duxcax, Secretary. 4, Beaufort Builtlinys, Jan. 1, 1850. 5 XJ3.—Post Office and other Sloncy Orders to lie made iiavaMe to the President. X . X-